In 1974 I met the person who would become the “other doctor” in our practice; her name was Simonne Bullette, now Simonne Holton.

It is not easy to be a country health care provider because you are never off duty, whether at church, the supermarket, a soccer game or at a dinner out with your family, patients will always approach and seek and solicit the advice of someone they trust, someone who gives so generously of themselves and so graciously of their knowledge as Simone. And I know that she has done that for 43 years.

Although she has been at Landmark College for the past 15 years and this retirement is a celebration of that outstanding period of her duty, I am celebrating much more.

Simonne has been a credit to the nursing profession for over 43 years and I am sorry to tell her that: you really don’t retire from what God always intended you do and what you are meant to be, a healer. Simone, you will always be a healer. Those who come in contact with you, whether you work at Landmark or just hanging out at the beach will know that immediately, and once again you will be called upon to do what you do best, and that is, smile and ease people’s woes.

Many extraordinary health care providers have worked with us over the years and are better off at what they do and who they have become because of Simone and her diagnostic skills and her ease and her womanhood.

I personally can never thank this woman for all that she has meant to me. From the very beginning she was a partner, but more importantly a sister. Our mothers were best friends, we played together and we watched them with joy as they settled into their lives together in Vermont. I adore this woman and promise her a big hug, in person, this fall when I make my annual excursion up Old Ark Road to her beautiful house and visit Skip, Simonne and their beautiful children Ryan and Cory.

God bless you, Simonne, for your extraordinary history, for the lives you have touched and personally for saving my own. I love you!

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